Some Dalmeny residents are worried about the future of their environment. Photo: Facebook.
Eurobodalla Shire Council has hit back at claims “zombie developments” are unlawfully being allowed to go ahead.
This year Mayor Mathew Hatcher wrote to NSW Planning and Homes Minister Anthony Roberts after public outcry about new housing estates being built based on decades-old approvals.
Last year, Independent NSW MP and South Coast resident Justin Field called for the NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes to intervene in such projects.
Cr Hatcher asked the department to review provisions in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 2020 that allow older development consents to remain valid due to works having physically begun.
A spokesperson for Minister Roberts replied to Cr Hatcher, and said amendments had been made to the act in 2020, which specified that minor works such as clearing, surveying or testing do not count as physical commencement of a development.
“Any [further] changes to the act could undermine investment certainty, impact property value and create issues of procedural fairness,” the spokesperson for the Minister said.
The response is unlikely to satisfy residents concerned about local developments based on old consents.
In particular, Dalmeny is confronting the activation of a 30-year-old urban growth plan, with Eurobodalla Shire Council approving the sale of 40 hectares of bushland for future residential development.
This land adjoins another 60 hectares of already privately owned, residentially zoned, mature bushland, and Mr Field said all of it is “unburnt and critical refuge and foraging grounds for local birds and animals”.
In Tuross Head, resident Simon Cox has been fighting a “zombie housing development” in his village, and said a review of the planning system would ensure old developments across NSW were reviewed to meet current social, cultural and environmental standards.
“I think all Australians would be stunned that a DA approved in 1984 can stand up in 2021 knowing what we know now,” he said.
A spokesperson for the council denied these are “zombie developments”. Zombie development is not a legal term, but is commonly used to refer to old approvals where physical works occur to preserve the consent but no lots are released.
“The provisions around physical commencement were changed a few years ago as detailed in the DPE response,” they said.
“These changes required a bit more effort than just surveying for example.
“This was in response to a Land and Environment Court case in around 2007 where surveying was found to be engineering works and therefore constituted physical commencement.
“Prior to that there was little guidance around what constituted physical commencement but was generally considered to mean installation of infrastructure or building a slab.
“The Tuross subdivision was commenced by extension of sewer main and not land clearing or surveying.
“Dalmeny is not a zombie development. Dalmeny has been through a strategic planning exercise (Eurobodalla settlement strategy) and zoned for residential development.
“There is no approval as yet. A masterplan is being developed by council as part of the process in moving to actual subdivision approvals.”
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